Carriers that grip the upper portions of articles to enable the articles to be lifted and carried are well known, particularly in connection with beverage cans. For example, plastic carriers which contain openings that fit over the tops of beverage cans so as to grip the cans in the reduced neck area just below the can chimes are often employed. Although economical to produce, such clip-type carriers have certain drawbacks. The thin plastic material at the finger holes can be painful to the user's fingers when the package is carried for any length of time. Further, the thin material required to enable the carrier to be forced over the tops of the cans limits the weight of the package. For these reasons plastic carriers are normally not used to carry more than six 12-ounce cans in a package. In addition, the use of such carriers provides no space for printed advertising material or other indicia. Further, discarded plastic carriers have been seen as creating environmental problems.
Paperboard carriers have been designed for carrying beverage containers in similar fashion, that is, by gripping the top portions of containers so that the suspended containers beneath that point are unenclosed. One such design for carrying beverage cans consists of a bottom panel containing apertures through which the tops of the cans extend. The cans are held in place by support edges which engage the underside of the can chimes. Short side panels, which cover the edges of the cans, connect the bottom panel to top panel flaps, and the top panel flaps are glued to the bottom panel. Aligned finger openings in the top and bottom panels enable the carrier to be lifted and carried. An example of this type of carrier is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,503. Although the disclosed carrier provides certain advantages, such as being more comfortable to carry than plastic carriers, providing substantially unbroken areas in the top panel for receiving printed indicia and being more environmentally acceptable, it falls short of providing the desired level of strength.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a carrier which retains the benefits of known paperboard clip-type carriers, but in addition provides increased strength.